Well I was super nervous and jittery but I made it through. To take a step back, one of the more stressful jobs on our show is that of the executive producer. This is the person who times out the segments and keeps the flow of the conversation going. Finally, it was my turn to put on the black headset, press a few buttons and produce a segment… or three.
As the only one in the office that day, there wasn’t a choice if I could produce the segments. Nope it was more of a, “If Ron is off and Char is our then who does that leave? Oh… ME!” situation.
Here is out it works out. Each segment it given a predetermined amount of time. My job is to make sure we hit under or not more than 5 seconds over that time. I have a sheet I with questions that I need to prompt the host to ask. She has to listen to me for the next question, while keeping the conversation going with the guest. Her job is hard. I’m there to make sure everything flows smoothly; we get in all the talking points and come out close to the time. No pressure. J
Thank goodness our host, Lisa Haffner, is awesome. She just needs the questions and a 1-minute cue. Seriously, she gets really close to being exactly one minute.
The first one was a little rough. We had a testimonial video that we weren’t sure how long it took or where is should go. Second time around, I got when the best time for me to cue with time and questions was. Oddly enough right after she asks the previous question while the guest is responding. Third time, the segment basically ran itself. Graphics, video, questions time all came together in this neat little package.
Executive producing in the booth was an interesting and thrilling experience. Did I mention our show does not have room for do-overs? If we can help it the segments all must be taped in one shot. That definitely raises the stakes for everyone and we all try to achieve first time perfection.
